"The first modern contact with the now oppressed community came in 1769, when Scottish explorer James Bruce stumbled upon them while searching for the source of the Nile River. His estimates at the time placed the Beta Israel population at 100,000, already greatly decreased from an estimate from centuries before of a half-million. "

"There are the Falashas of Ethiopia, a group of black Ethiopians numbering between 15,000 and 25,000 who practice a form of Judaism which retains Jewish beliefs and practices from the first century A.D. "

"Falasha: Population: 25,000; Location: Northern Ethiopia, Israel; Languages: Amharic, Tigrinya, Ge'ez "; Pg. 62: "The Black Jews of Ethiopia, the Falasha live in the Simen Mountains in the northwest section of the country... At one time the Falasha consisted of about 150,000 people, but years of subjugation led to a drastic decline in the population... In the mid-1980s, the Israeli government established 'Operation Moses,' an airlift that brought over 8,000 Falasha to Israel. Today about half of the Falasha population resides in Israel, where they have made the slow transition from living in settlement camps to becoming assimilated into Israeli society. "; Pg. 64: "Like Orthodox Jews elsewhere, the Falasha follow strict religious customs based on the Torah and the Old Testament regarding diet, cleanliness, prayers, festivals... "

Ethiopian Jews

world

50,000

-

-

-

1998

*LINK* DAWN Fridayfax 1998 #26: research conducted by David Bogosian, Research Director of the 'US Center for World Mission': "Over 130,000 Messianic Jews "

Most Jews are of Hebrew descent, but there are others such as the 50,000 black Jews, called Falashas, originally from Ethiopia and now living in Israel.

"Essenes: A tribe of black Jews in Ethiopia, many of whom have now emigrated to Israel. The name 'Falashas', meaning 'strangers', is pejorative and is never used by the Beta Israel ('House of Israel') as these Ethiopian Jews call themselves. "

Ross, Dan. Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. New York: St. Martin's Press (1982); pg. 150.

"Falashas are the only Jews in the world with a monastic tradition... The cave where Abba Zabra lived became the largest Falasha monastary. Last century, 200 monks were said to be living there. "

Ethiopian Jews - monastic

Ethiopia

6

-

-

-

1955

Ross, Dan. Acts of Faith: A Journey to the Fringes of Jewish Identity. New York: St. Martin's Press (1982); pg. 150.

"Falashas are the only Jews in the world with a monastic tradition... The cave where Abba Zabra lived became the largest Falasha monastary. Last century, 200 monks were said to be living there. There are few--if any--monks left today. In the mid-1950s only a half-dozen were said to be left, none under 80 years old. "

Barbados Religion page: church listing. "Currently there are around 60 Anglican churches that can be found on the island and over the years many other denominations have joined and can be found list below. "

"ETHIOPIAN CHURCH: the ancient CHRISTIAN CHURCH of Ethiopia which was founded by at least the third century and flourished for centuries as a genuine African expression of CHRISTIANITY cut off from contact with the West through ISLAM. "

Ethiopian Orthodox

Ethiopia

-

-

200,000units

-

1965

Kaula, Edna Mason. The Land and People of Ethiopia (series: Portraits of the Nations Series). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co. (1965); pg. 21.

"The Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church is the established Empire church. In the regions where Christianity is practiced, every village, no matter how small, has its own round Coptic place of worship whose numbers believe themselves to be the 'chosen people.' Two hundred thousand priests administer to the needs of the congregations, which consist almost entirely of Amharic-Tigrai people. As a religion it is a curious blending of the Christian, Hebraic, and pagan. "

Ethiopian Orthodox

Ethiopia

-

-

20,000units

-

1970

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally pub. as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 242-243.

"Ethiopic Church. Indigenous church in Ethiopia, until recently the established church... Until the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie (1974) this hierarchical church was involved with all aspects of political and family life. A quarter of the male Christian population performed some priestly functions... Priests administer the sacraments. Lay helpers chant, read, and teach in the schools. Large tracts of land were set aside for churches and monasteries. It has been estimated that until recently there were 20,000 churches in Ethiopia. "

Ethiopian Orthodox

Ethiopia

8,000,000

-

-

-

1977

Bishop, Peter & Michael Darton (editors). The Encyclopedia of World Faiths: An Illustrated Survey of the World's Living Faiths. New York: Facts on File Publications (1987); pg. 87.

"Until the Marxist takeover of the country in the late 1970s the Ethiopian Church was the state Church of Ethiopia and boasted some 8 million members. No revised figures of any accuracy have become available since the revolution, but it is thought that the numbers of the faithful have been greatly reduced through famine, disease and persecution. "

Pg. 40: "Ethiopia has 46 million people... "; Pg. 43: "About 40% of Ethiopians are Muslims, who live mostly in the lowland regions. Islam is practiced in its traditional form along the northern coast, which has been influenced by Arab populations across the Red Sea. In the interior, stretching southward toward Kenya and Somalia, religious practices become less formal, mainly because the lifestyle in these areas often make it difficult to follow Muslim rules. "

"Ethiopian Coptic Christianity was adopted by the Abyssinian peoples (north central highland populations) in the 4th century. This religion has not changed very much in the almost 2,000 years it has been practiced by Ehtiopians of the highlands... Whereas Ethiopian Christianity is practiced by a minority of the total Ethiopian population, Islam is practiced by the great majority. "

"Ethiopian Orthodox Church in the United States of America... Bronx, NY [H.Q.]... Membership: In 1984, the Church reported 34 parishes and misions, 5,000 members, and 15 clergy. There are approximately 10,000 members in 7 parishes and 3 missions in Jamaica. "

"Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of North and South America... In the few years of its existence it has established churches in Trinidad, Mexico, and Pennsylvania... Membership: Not reported. It is estimated that several hundred members can be found in the 3 parishes in New York and Pennsylvania. "

"Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of North and South America... Brooklyn, NY [H.Q.]... in Brooklyn there are two churches... Membership: Not reported. It is estimated that several hundred members can be found in the 3 parishes in New York and Pennsylvania. "

"Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of North and South America... Brooklyn, NY [H.Q.]... in Brooklyn there are two churches, one with a Latin and one with a Coptic Ethiopian rite, the rite commonly followed by the church... Membership:.... It is estimated that several hundred members can be found in the 3 parishes in New York and Pennsylvania. "

"In the few years of its existence it has established churches in Trinidad, Mexico, and Pennsylvania... Membership:...It is estimated that several hundred members can be found in the 3 parishes in New York and Pennsylvania. "

"Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of North and South America... In the few years of its existence it has established churches in Trinidad, Mexico, and Pennsylvania... Membership: Not reported. It is estimated that several hundred members can be found in the 3 parishes in New York and Pennsylvania. "

"Ethiopian Orthodox Coptic Church of North and South America... Brooklyn, NY [H.Q.]... In the few years of its existence it has established churches in Trinidad, Mexico, and Pennsylvania; in Brooklyn there are two churches, one with a Latin and one with a Coptic Ethiopian rite, the rite commonly followed by the church... Friction has developed between the two 'Ethiopian' churches, each questioning the legitimacy of the other. Membership: Not reported. It is estimated that several hundred members can be found in the 3 parishes in New York and Pennsylvania. "

Ahlstrom, Sydney E. A Religious History of the American People; Yale University Press: New Haven & London (1973); pg. 1060.

"The Ethiopian [later, Apostolic] Overcoming Holy Church of God was founded in Alabama in 1916 by a former Methodist, W. T. Phillips... He appointed the ministers of the denomination's 300 churches... membership [of] 75,000 by 1965. "

"Who were the Etruscans? A partial answer, wich which few would quarrel, is that the Etrusci (or Tusci), as the Romans called them, lived in Tuscany in central Italy from at least the 7th century BC. They extended their influence southwards to the area around Naples (in the process engulfing the Latin city of Rome, where Etruscan kings ruled in the 6th century) and later northwards to the northern plain of the Po valley. About 500 BC the southern area including Rome shook off their rule, confing their power increasingly to the disctrict of Tuscany, and in the 4th and 3rd centuries they were finally forced to submit to Rome's expanding might: they were absorbed into Rome's Italian confederacy and in 90 BC became Roman citizens. "

"On the mainland of Europe, the Celts began expanding southwards and westwards during the La Tene period. The first Celtic invasions of Italy took place before 400 BC, when Celtic tribes drove the Etruscans out of Po valley. Interestingly, it is from the Etruscans that the later Romans borrows many religious beliefs and practices, including the priestly sanctification of the foundations and outer bounds of a city. It is quite likely that the early Celts found the rigid fatalism of the Etruscans as antipathetic as they later found the rigid autoritarianism of the Romans. "

ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "Evangelical " [Refers to people who self-identified specifically as "Evangelical, " rather than supplying a particular denomination.]; Actual % between 0 and 0.5%, so sell was left blank.

"Since 1975, a civil war between the Marxist government and UNITA nationalists has oppressed and impoverished Angola's 11 million people, most of whom identify themselves as Christians, although evangelical Christians account for less than nine percent of the population. "

ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "Evangelical " [Refers to people who self-identified specifically as "Evangelical, " rather than supplying a particular denomination.]

ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "Evangelical " [Refers to people who self-identified specifically as "Evangelical, " rather than supplying a particular denomination.]; Actual % between 0 and 0.5%, so sell was left blank.

ARIS: Nationwide phone survey of 50,000 American adults; open-ended question: 'What is your religion, if any?'; Listed in table: "Evangelical " [Refers to people who self-identified specifically as "Evangelical, " rather than supplying a particular denomination.]; Actual % between 0 and 0.5%, so sell was left blank.

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